If the Age was Freedom
by robot-ninja-wizard accountant
Summary: AU- For if Dragon had come to Goa Kingdom not as a thief in the night, but as a man victorious.


AU drabble. So with the Gray Terminal flash back we see Dragon saying that he wished that he could change that country. And over and over again, from Ohara to Gray Terminal to Frevance, we see so many tragedies caused because the government is horrible. So what if with the Gray Terminal story line, Dragon didn't come in like a thief in the night, but a king triumphant.

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><p>Sabo couldn't believe his ears. No way the nobles were going to burn Gray Terminal. However, according to Stelly, there had been a change in government and one of the new government officials was coming to Goa. In order to curry favor with the new government, Goa was trying to look its best by getting rid of the scum. The thought that the nobles of Goa would do this left Sabo is a state of shock. Before he knew it, Sabo found himself outside surrounded by people, people going about their business. It made him feel more at ease. Everything was much to normal for what Stelly had said to be true.<p>

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Sabo's head was pounding when he noticed the cloaked man in front of him. Sabo couldn't stop the words from coming out. His hated for this country fueling by his worry for his brothers came out in a spew of words. But for the first time someone listened. This man was from Goa too, and he promised to stop this. Sabo blacked out as Monkey D. Dragon ordered his men to put out the fires, start the arrests, and could they find some one to take a look at this boy's wounds.

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When Sabo awoke, he was in a room that he had never seen before, but he was not alone. There was a doctor that asked him a series of questions to determine whether or not he had permanent brain damage. Sabo kept trying to push for answers but the doctor was quite adamant that Sabo answer the questions first. When she was done asking her questions and with the speech on all the things that he must do because of his recent concussion, the doctor told him that a man would come to answer all his questions about the events of the fire and then she left.

Not long after the door closed from the doctors leaving, they opened again and Sabo was shocked to see the man from the street again. So shocked that a startled "Its you" came out before Sabo could think better.

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To think the mystery man had been his brother's biological father and that government official that Stelly had been talking about. Even more comforting was the news that his brothers had been saved from the fire and where being treated somewhere else in this make-shift hospital system. Sabo was itching to go bug the nurses until they told him where his brothers where. Sabo knew though that Dragon would be back tomorrow and then for sure Sabo would see his brothers.

Sabo had to say he was jealous of Luffy for once. The fact that they didn't have real parents is part of what bound the three brothers together. Now that Luffy had his real family, and it wasn't a crappy family like the one that Sabo had, would Luffy want to leave them to go off with his cool dad?

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Luffy had been shocked when a giant wind systematically blew out the fire. Before he knew it strange soldiers can streaming in, saying that they were with the new government and were bring aid. Before Luffy could fully understand what was going on, he and Ace were being taken away to that doctors could look at their burns and check for mysterious smoke illness. Luffy would be scared except that he had Ace and these people promised food. Ace had been skeptical of that promise, but they had gotten food, and it was good food. The nurse ladies kept asking all kinds of questions. This bothered Ace, but Luffy didn't mind as long as they kept feeding him. After answering the questions, Ace and Luffy were left to "rest" but the two boys were both too excited to sleep. Luffy didn't understand what was going on, but he was 7. Luffy trusted Ace to tell him what to do.

"Can we stay with these people Ace, their food is really good?"

"No you idiot, didn't you listen. These people aren't going to stay. They are here because of the fire and then once we convince them that we are fine with Dadan then they will leave us alone."

"But Dadan doesn't feed us. We have always go get the food ourselves. And she isn't even as good a cook as Makino."

"These people aren't going to keep us. They would just send us to some family like Sabo's and we couldn't work on being pirates. So instead, we need to tell them how much we enjoy living with Dadan so that they let us go back... Wait, I think someone is coming back."

Indeed someone had come back. A man this time that introduced himself as a revolutionary. This made Ace more nervous. He started asking all kinds of questions about Luffy and where he had grown up. Ace wanted Luffy to shut up several times. This person was going to try to put them in some fancy stifling home. The type that would curse him if they only knew the blood that was in his veins. When then the man left Ace had forgotten that he had introduced himself as a revolutionary, and was back to fussing at Luffy who then started crying. It was as Luffy was crying that the tent opened again and this time another man came in. At this point, Ace was very frustrated.

"Leave us alone, we don't want to answer any more questions. And we are fine. Luffy and I can take care of ourselves just fine. We like living with Dandan. You can't make us live with anyone else."

Ace was shocked my the intensity of the look the man gave him. It was like he was trying to look into the depths of Ace's soul, and for the first time Ace noticed how intimidating the man seemed.

"So you are happy in the home that Garp has provided for you?"

"Yes."

"And you Luffy?"

Luffy had stopped crying, but it didn't seem like it would take much for him to start up again. "I...I...I want to stay with Ace and Sabo."

"Sabo? Can you tell me about him?"

"Hey, old man, we told you. We don't want to answer any more questions."

"I can see. That is unfortunate, because I have waited for so long to meet you two, especially you Luffy. And now that the age is freedom, I wish to know everything that I missed. I wish to know everything about you Luffy.

"About me?" The small boy interjected. "Yes" the man replied with a smile that seemed honest, but made Ace suspicious. "Who are you?"

"I am the Revolutionary, Monkey D. Dragon. And I believe that this young man here is my son Luffy."

"I have a dad? You are my dad?"

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Ace had gone to bed that night feeling somewhat jealous. He had known that Luffy's father had been a criminal just like his had been. His father had died leaving Ace to be cursed where ever he went. Luffy's father came back, and Luffy was going to just let him waltz back into their lives like he hadn't been gone for years. But that was Luffy. Luffy forgives everyone. Luffy forgave him. Ace wondered how long Monkey D. Dragon would put up with his son's brothers before the man tried to convince Luffy to toss them aside. Or maybe how long before he tried to take Luffy away so that he to keep running his government. Or maybe the man would just leave again. That would hurt Luffy, but maybe having that man leave was for the best. Ace fell asleep anxious and slightly mad.

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Luffy never had a dad before. And his dad was the one ordering the people with the food. His dad was the one behind stopping the fire. From what he could tell, his dad was really strong and had gone on lots of adventures, but he was done now. Something about too much power and tyrants, all very mysterious. But he was fine with Luffy wanting to be the Pirate King. And he wanted to hear all about Ace and Sabo and Dadan and Shanks and...and everything. And he was going to let Luffy choose where they live. If Luffy wanted to still live with the bandits, his father would join him there. Luffy told his father that didn't like bandits although Dadan was ok, but he had liked Windmill Village best. And his dad said that he would help them find Sabo. It was like those stories that Makino used to tell him when he was really little that always ended in "and they all lived happly ever after". Even Ace, who was always grumpy, was slowly being won over by his dad.

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Dragon had asked one of this men to keep track of the boy that had told him that the nobles had started the fire, because even though the revelation was not a surprise something about the boy had moved him. He had promised his son that he would look for his third "brother", a boy named Sabo. He was surprised to have found him so quickly. Dragon found himself impressed with his son and his taste in friends, or family really. Dragon would never had admitted it but the decision to leave his young son in the care of his father had weighted on his mind greatly. But the boy had found a way of creating a family that was fiercely loyal to him. Gol D. Roger's son clearly had his father's temper, but Dragon was almost encouraged by the fire that was being directed at him by the ten year old boy because he realized that the boy was only trying to protect Luffy. Goa was in even worse shape than when he had left it. But after everything he and the other revolutionaries had achieved it was nice to finally reach the end by cleaning up the country that had in many ways starting the revolution.

He had done his duty, the age was restored to one of freedom, and to make sure that it would stay that way he was withdrawing from it, back to the place where he was now needed most: his home with his son. This way he would not become like that which he just fought against. It was hard, slow working going from place to place bringing freedom and accountability to government. But the more that was done, the larger the movement grew as new voices that had been silenced in the past where not speaking out. There was still much to be done, but he had put in the framework for the people to take of governing themselves. A system that balanced justice with compassion. Pirates have done horrors, but by sentencing to hell with out a fair trial, that was no justice. For too long the government had tried to stop the pirates by cracking down harder on the people, failing to realized that many had to turned to that profession because the current system had left them no other option.

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Three young men waved from the deck of a fairly small sailboat, saying their goodbyes to the strange assortment of well-wishers. The townspeople of Windmill village keeping just a slight distance from the bandits that had come down from the mountain. A semi-retired marine and the town mayor were having fun grumbling about how "back in the day...". The youngest of the three boys, seventeen with a bright smile on his face, called out.

"Bye Dad, bye everyone. See you again after we have found One Piece."

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><p>I have two other unfinished One Piece stories. I really wanted to write this though. If I get more inspiration I might extent this to other places, and what would have happened if the revolutionary army had been a bigger force much earlier in the timeline. Let me know what you think.<p> 


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